1. at Anonymous Clinic, The Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre
Validation of Alere TM q HIV-1/2 Detect for detection of acute HIV infection
at Anonymous Clinic, The Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre
Irin Srila-or1, Tippawan P.1, Supanit P.1, Supphadith B.1, Panatsiri R.1, Jureeporn J.1, Suphachoke A.1, Sunee S.2, Pattareeya P.1, Reshmie R.1, Nittaya P.1,3, Praphan P.1,2
1. The Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre, Bangkok, Thailand. 2. Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. 3. SEARCH, Bangkok, Thailand

2. Introduction
Diagnosis of acute HIV infection (AHI) is important for prevention and care.
Nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) is the most sensitive test to diagnose AHI but is costly and labor intensive.
AlereTMq is a point-of-care qualitative NAAT that can detect both HIV type 1 and 2 with a detection limit of 2,500 copies/mL
Aim of the study is to evaluate the performance of Alere q in Thai AHI detection.

3. Methods & Results
Table : Alere q HIV-RNA Detectable stratified by group
Alere q was run against a panel of one hundred plasma samples :
Confirmed HIV negative (10)
4th Gen. EIA non-reactive but NAAT (APTIMA) reactive (30)
4th Gen. reactive but 3rd Gen. non-reactive (30)
4th Gen. and 3rd Gen. reactive but 2nd Gen. non-reactive (30)
Group N
100
No. Alere q Detectable
(%)
Median of HIV-RNA***
(Copies/ml ) (IQR)
Log10 A 10
(0%)
N/A B 30
21*
(70%)
4,337
( ,367)
3.64 C
(100%)
2,824,395
(186, ,028,700)
6.45 D
29**
(96.7%)
3,694,141
(344, ,762,300)
6.57
* 8/9 Alere q negative samples had HIV-RNA below 2,500 Copies/mL, the detection limit of Alere q, the remaining one had HIV-RNA 40,311 copies/mL.
** HIV-RNA of the only Alere q negative sample in group D was only 1,204 copies/mL.
*** Median HIV-RNA of AHI with reactive Alere q was 630,276 copies/mL which was significantly higher than those with non-reactive Alere q (282 copies/mL), p<0.001.

4. Conclusions
Alere q is more sensitive than 4th Gen. machine base EIA but less sensitive than APTIMA.
Alere q is ideal for HIV testing in people taking PrEP especially at community roll out.
In addition to its indication for use in mother-to-child transmission, Alere q could be considered in the detection of AHI in a setting where APTIMA or HIV-RNA is not available although its sensitivity is not yet perfect.